Renowned Hong Kong playwright Candace Chong Mui-ngam has publicly accused cultural authorities of systematically blacklisting her, in what she describes as part of a wider pattern of artistic suppression in the city.
In a series of social media posts, Chong said she had been quietly sidelined by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC), the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD), and the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA). She cited incidents ranging from the removal of an alumni interview by her alma mater, the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA), to being discouraged from taking a curtain call after a musical performance.
On September 9, she revealed that her acclaimed play We are Gay, scheduled for revival at the Xiqu Centre’s Grand Theatre in late November, would be scrapped. “Even if I can never step onto a Hong Kong stage again, I will not regret it,” she declared.
Chong, one of Hong Kong’s most decorated dramatists, has won the Best Script prize at the Hong Kong Drama Awards six times and was named Artist of the Year by the HKADC. Her 2009 play May 35th, a veiled reference to the June 4 Tiananmen crackdown, remains one of the rare works to address the taboo subject on stage. She believes such political expression has made her a target. “I went on the streets and wrote a play about June Fourth during Hong Kong’s freest years—that alone marked me,” she wrote.
She recounted how younger theatre groups seeking to perform her earlier works ran into opaque barriers. One troupe’s HKADC funding approval stalled until they agreed to replace her play with another script. At least three productions scheduled at LCSD venues were blocked or abruptly cancelled, despite the plays having previously been staged on government venues without issue. In another case, Chong was told her name could not appear in promotional material for a revival, otherwise the show would not go ahead. She said such demands not only erased her authorship but also fractured her collaborations with fellow artists.
At the end of last year, while preparing both a new musical and a revival of We are Gay, Chong was bluntly told: “You’ve been blacklisted. Both shows must stop.” Although the projects were later conditionally allowed to proceed, she described the experience as “wrongful, humiliating and enraging.”
Following her recent disclosure about HKAPA blocking her from taking a curtain call, Chong said industry contacts passed on a message from government representatives claiming: “This time it wasn’t the government targeting you, it was HKAPA acting on its own.” She questioned the narrative: “Which incident wasn’t the government? Or are departments simply second-guessing their superiors, gambling with artists’ dreams?”
For Chong, her case illustrates how Hong Kong’s once-vibrant cultural scene has been hollowed out by self-censorship, political fear, and bureaucratic interference. She said opportunities no longer go to the most deserving artists, but to those deemed politically safe.
Despite the mounting obstacles, Chong insists she will continue creating. “Though it is painful, I have no regrets,” she wrote. “I will not be alone. I will learn to become a better playwright, and a better person.”